Return of the Labyrinth
by Motomo
Summary: A few months after the Battle of the Labyrinth, strange things are happening in the Labyrinth. Percy and his friends Nico, Thalia, and Annabeth are sent on a quest to find out what's up with the Labyrinth, but their quest doesn't go as planned.
1. Hesitation

**Chiron's POV**

"Percy!" I shouted. I saw Percy look up, startled.

"Hmm?" he said looking for the person who had said his name.

"Percy, we need you back at camp... immediately." I turned and saw three pairs of eyes looking at me expectantly, as if saying _Hurry up would you!_

"Is he there?" Nico asked.

"Yes, but keep quiet, I'm trying to talk." I turned back to Percy seeing him looking at me in confusion.

"Wait, why? I'm starting school in about a month, and who were you talking to? " Percy asked. He was trying to look past me, but Nico and the others were out of sight.

"Percy, I need you to come to camp immediately, it's about the Labyrinth."

"Oh..." I saw Percy's shoulders droop, I knew he didn't want to hear anything to do with the Labyrinth. "Is something wrong?" he asked "I thought the Labyrinth died when Quintus died."

"One would have thought that" I stopped, should I tell him or should I wait... I decided that it could wait. "We really need you here Percy. Go to the Big House when you arrive at camp."

Before Percy could say anything, I cut the message off. I didn't want him asking any questions that would make him not want to come. I turned to Nico and saw him looking at where Percy had just been.

"Do you think he'll agree to go with?" asked Nico.

"I hope so. We'll need his experience with the Labyrinth..." I paused, unsure of what to say next, when Annabeth interrupted.

"What about my experience? I've been in the Labyrinth too."

"I know Annabeth, but what if something were to happen to you or Nico, what do you think would happen to Thalia?"

"Plus, I only went in the Labyrinth for a short time," added Nico.

"I suppose... but, you know... the more people who go in the maze, the more likely they'll get lost. We started out with four of us, but we eventually split up."

"I know Annabeth, I know."

**Percy's POV**

When I arrived at camp, everything seemed normal. Every person at camp, which wasn't that many, was doing their normal tasks, archery practice, sword fighting, you know the usual. But one person that I didn't see was Annabeth. She told me that she would be staying with Chiron until his legs healed, but surely they wouldn't heal that fast. But then again he was a Centaur, so who knows how long it takes for their legs to heal. I wasn't going to sit there and think about it and decided that I should probably meet Chiron at the Big House since he said I had to be there immediately about three times in the iris message.

Inside the Big House I spotted Chiron right away. He was sitting behind a table in his motorized wheel chair. Okay I thought, his legs haven't healed yet, or maybe he didn't feel like walking... darn ADHD, always getting me distracted. I then noticed Annabeth sitting next to Chiron. She had a look that suggested that she was frustrated. Then again she looked frustrated most of the time anyway. But of course I wouldn't tell that to her face.

Next to Annabeth was Nico. I was pretty surprised to see him there. We had only seen each other a few days ago, when he told me about his plan, so I didn't think he would be here since he said he didn't feel welcome at Camp Half Blood. He was looking at me expectantly, like he was waiting for an answer to a question I hadn't been asked. I then finally noticed the person sitting next to him.

"Th-Thalia?" I stuttered. I hadn't seen her in a long time, after she went with Artemis and her Huntresses.

"Hey Percy! Get your butt over here and sit by me!" She tapped the chair next to her. So I sat down next to her. She looked genuinely happy to see me. She was about to say something else when Nico interrupted.

"Um, can we hurry up already?" He looked up at Chiron when he said this. _Nice to see you too, Nico, _I thought. I was gonna make a sarcastic statement when Chiron started talking.

"Sorry to bring you back here so early, but this is important. As I told you in our conversation, the Labyrinth has been... acting up."

I looked at him, confused. What did he mean, when he said acting up? Nico obviously saw my confused expression, and decided to shed some light on the situation.

"Percy, when Chiron says that the Labyrinth has been acting up, he means that it's up and running again," he paused waiting to see what I thought of this new information. When I didn't say anything, he continued, " Anyway Hades told me that he finally had received Daedalus's soul. He decided that he would send someone to check and see if the Labyrinth was gone. He decided to choose me. So I went and to my surprise, the Labyrinth was still moving along as if Daedalus was still alive." Nico stopped and looked at Chiron. Before anyone could say anything else, I decided to ask.

"Why is the Labyrinth-"

"Alive?" Nico interrupted, "That's what we need to talk to you about. Chiron?" Chiron looked reluctant to talk about the subject, but he went ahead anyway.

"Percy, we decided that we would probably-"

"He means definitely," said Thalia, making me jump. I forgot she was standing there, she'd been so quiet the whole time.

"Yes Thalia, I suppose you could say definitely. But anyway, we are going to have Thalia, Nico, Annabeth, and-"

"And you!" Thalia said happily.

"Me? But-"

"I know Percy, the Labyrinth isn't the most... ideal place to go into again, but we really need you in this quest." Chiron looked at me hoping that I would give him an answer right then and there, but...

**Nico's POV**

I could tell Percy wasn't very happy to hear that he would need to go into the Labyrinth again. I mean if you saw what happened to Chris Rodriguez, I'm pretty sure you would hesitate going into the Labyrinth too. I know that Dionysus cured Chris, but Percy isn't very high on his "I Like You" list.

I looked up at Percy, he had a look of... terror? I couldn't tell. His eyes were wide, and it looked like he was staring off into space. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it. He started bouncing his leg and tapping his fingers on the table in front of him. I was kind of concerned for Percy. I'd never seen him do any of that before.

I started thinking about how Percy had reacted when he got back from the Labyrinth the last time, but I couldn't think of anything he had done when he got back. He wasn't anxious, or for any matter crazy, but that didn't mean he wasn't hiding something inside. I decided that I was going to ask him if everything was alright, but before I could say anything, he bolted out of the Big House and kept running.

"Is he alright?" asked Thalia.

"I don't know..." Chiron paused. "Annabeth, has Percy acted... different lately?"

"Not that I've noticed... well... never mind."

"Annabeth, what is it?" asked Chiron sternly.

"Well, he had said he'd been having nightmares but..." she looked puzzled.

"Do you think the nightmares have something to do with the Labyrinth?" I asked. I knew that the Labyrinth caused rather noticeable changes in behavior, but what if it caused Percy to have strange dreams instead...

"Annabeth, has Percy told you about any of his dreams?" said Chiron, interrupting my thoughts.

"Well, no. He just said that they have been..."

"Been what Annabeth, what have they been about?" Chiron asked hastily.

I could tell Annabeth was thinking hard. She was probably trying to decipher what Percy's dreams might mean.

"About... being killed..." she paused "In the Labyrinth."


	2. Acceptance

**A/N ****Hey guys, sorry that the last chapter didn't have an author note, but this time it does! So I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far! I'll be trying to post new chapters once or twice a week, but I would like to get 5 reviews, soo PLEASE review! Thanks!**

**Percy's POV**

I had to get away. There was no way I would go back into that place. I ran into my cabin and sat down on my bed. I put my head in my hands. Why did they want me to go back into the Labyrinth? Why couldn't they just say _Hey, Daedalus is gone, so the Labyrinth is gone. What's for dinner? _But no, they have figure out what is going on.

They probably think you're crazy I told myself. I mean why would you want to go back in there. Its not like it is a perfect place to clear your mind, in fact it ruins your mind. My mind...

I mean if you've been having the dreams that I have been having, I'm pretty sure you'd go running from the room as well. I started thinking about my dreams. Flashbacks of me getting lost and going so crazy I jump into the pit Annabeth and I had to go across. Or being ambushed by Kronos's army, and there I am getting shot by a whole bunch of arrows...

A knock on my door pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Percy?" I looked up and saw Annabeth looking at me worriedly.

"Yeah I know, I'm pathetic and a wimp..." I couldn't stand to keep eye contact with her.

"Percy, you're not pathetic, much less a wimp. Percy look at me." I didn't want to look at her. Why couldn't she just go away.

"Percy, please look at me... Please..." I looked up at her. She had a sympathetic look on her face.

"Percy, you are not pathetic, don't you ever let yourself think that. Remember our first quest? You hadn't even been at camp very long, and you still decided to go to the Underworld. That is not pathetic. Do you understand?"

"Sure," I muttered. She looked like she was going to press me further for a definite yes, but then she asked.

"Percy, what happened back there?" I was waiting for her to ask that.

"You know..."

"Your dreams?" she asked.

"Yeah." This was not a subject I wanted to discuss, and Annabeth obviously noticed..

"I won't ask," she said "but please Percy, we really need you on this quest. Would you consider going?" I didn't answer. I needed time to think.

"I'll come back later, but promise me you'll have an answer." She put her hand out for me to shake it.

"I promise," I said while I shook her hand.

**Annabeth's POV**

I left Percy hoping he would be okay. I knew he was scared, it was written all over his face. I really hope he agrees to come with us I told myself. If he did decide to go with, I would protect him even more than I usually do, we all would.

Chiron wanted me to come back after I went to talk to Percy. He had suggested the idea of talking to Percy, but I was already planning on doing that after he ran out. I got back to the Big House, everyone was still there. Nico was having a heated conversation with Thalia, about what, I don't know. And Chiron was still sitting at the table, clearly deep in thought. Then he noticed me.

"How did it go?" he asked.

"Okay I guess. The first thing he told me was that he was pathetic and a wimp. But then I told him not to think that way."

"Did he give you an answer?" Thalia asked. She obviously had finished her argument with Nico.

"I told him that I would come back later, and that he could give me his decision then."

"But we need an answer-"

"No Thalia, we don't need an answer now. When Percy's ready to give us his answer, then-." Chiron was cut off, because at that moment Percy walked through the doors of the Big House. He said something really quiet, that I'm pretty sure nobody knew what he said.

"I'm sorry Percy, what did you say?" asked Chiron.

"I said that I'll go," Percy said louder this time.

"Are you sure, Percy?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said this quieter, so I knew that he wasn't completely positive he wanted to go, but I wasn't going to say anything.

"Thank you Percy," Chiron said, "we greatly appreciate you agreeing to go on this quest." Percy just nodded his head."Now that this quest is official, we need someone to go speak to the Oracle. Who would like to do this?"

"I'll do it!" said Thalia excitedly. "It's so fun, all that green mist, the creepy voice. Who wouldn't want to do it?" That's Thalia for you, always finding the weirdest and most dangerous things fun.

"I'll do it," said Percy. We all looked at him.

"Percy, you don't-"

"No, Annabeth, I said I'll do it." I was a little worried for Percy. First he didn't even want to go on the quest, now he wanted to do one of the most important things about the quest.

"Okay, Everyone would you all care to leave, I need talk to Percy privately," said Chiron. I didn't want to leave, but I knew that if Chiron wanted to talk to Percy, it must be important.


	3. No Answer

**Hey guys, hope you're enjoying the story so far. I also hope you're enjoying the "New Chapter Everyday-ish." Sorry my last chapter was pretty short, but this one is a little longer, so I hope that makes up for it. Oh and before I forget; Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I kind of forgot to do that, but it's now it's there! Oh and if anyone is confused, this story is kind of like an alternate ending to the fourth Percy Jackson book (Battle of the Labyrinth) and an extra part? I don't know but this is like a few days after Percy's 15th birthday, so I hope this clears things up. One other thing, I would really appreciate it if I got at least five reviews (but the more the better). I do read all reviews so, review, review, review! Thanks for taking the time to read my story!**

**-Motomo**

**Chiron's POV**

Once everyone left, I turned to Percy. "Percy, you know you don't have to go on this quest if you don't want to."

"Why wouldn't I want to go on this quest?" questioned Percy.

"I know about your dreams, Percy."

"What!? How?" Percy exclaimed. "Wait, Annabeth told you didn't she?" I saw that Percy looked somewhat betrayed.

"Percy, she had no choice but to tell me. I made her tell me." Percy looked away from me, his arms crossed.

"What _exactly_ did she tell you?" asked Percy angrily.

"She only told me that you had had dreams of," I paused, it seemed wrong to say that he had dreams that he died. It, to me, seemed like that sort of thing should be kept secret.

"Please, Chiron, what did she tell you?" Percy's eyes were watery, I knew he was close to a breaking point, so I said it quick and to the point.

"That you died in the Labyrinth." Percy was quiet. He had silent tears rolling down his face. I felt bad for him. It was very brave for him to agree to go on this quest, even if it bothered him so.

"Do you want to know how?" Percy asked suddenly. I didn't know what to say. Did I really want to know how? I didn't want to force him to tell me. But before I could say anything, Percy started speaking again.

"I jumped Chiron, I jumped into a pit that Annabeth and I crossed over on our previous quest. I was so crazy and filled with fear, I jumped, just to end it all. Or if it wasn't that, Kronos's army killed me." At that point Percy, was crying. He sat on the ground, head on his knees, and just sobbed.

I rolled my wheelchair over to where Percy sat, and pat his shoulder, whispering calming words to him. I heard the door open and wasn't surprised to see Annabeth standing there. She looked at Percy, then up at me. I mouthed the "Dreams" and she quickly understood what was happening.

"Shhh, Percy it's alright," said Annabeth as she knelt down and hugged Percy. She kept whispering those words to Percy until he stopped crying. He looked horrible, is eyes were red and he had tear streaks all over his cheeks.

"Percy, you don't have to talk to the Oracle if you don't want to. We'll have Thalia do it," I said.

"No," Percy said, "I still want to talk to her." He looked up at me as if daring me to say otherwise.

"Okay," I said. Annabeth looked surprised but didn't say anything. "We'll leave you to speak with her," I said. I turned to Annabeth and signaled for her to follow me out. We left Percy in the Big House and I wondered, _Did I make the right decision? _

**Percy's POV**

I can't believe I cried I told myself. I don't care what Annabeth says, I am pathetic. I looked around the Big House and then towards the stairs. I need to go up there I thought. A part of me thought _Why didn't you just let Thalia go up there? _But I knew that I had to go up there. Even though my dreams said I was going to die, that didn't mean that it was going to happen. Well, at least I hope it doesn't happen.

I don't even know why I cried. I'd been in multiple life and death situations, so why did this bother me so much? I sat there thinking. Maybe the Labyrinth messed up my mind, but then I thought about Chris. I wasn't even remotely in the same condition as Chris. So what could make me fear death in the Labyrinth so much? I decided that I wasn't going to dwell on that thought, I had other things I needed to get done.

I got up off the floor and dusted my pants off. Well here goes nothing I told myself. I made my way towards the stairs and looked up them. A thought snatched my attention _What happens if the Oracle does tell you that you're destined to die, would you still go on the quest?_ I pushed the thought out of my mind, I'd go on the quest no matter what. I ascended the stairs to the fourth floor. Above me I saw the green trap door, the cord hung unmoving. I pulled the cord and the door swung down.

Once I climbed up into the attic, I was hit with the musty smell. Out of all the times you've been up here, why haven't you gotten used to the smell the ADHD part of my brain said. Everything was where it had been the last time I was here. I turned toward the spot that the Oracle sat at. She was still sitting there, leaning against the wall. I sat there waiting. Another five minutes had passed and still nothing happened.

I was confused, why hadn't she said anything yet? Maybe I need to move closer I thought. Nothing happened. I moved as close to her as I would dare and still nothing happened.

"Hello?" I said, my voice making a small echo. "Umm, I sorta need to get a prophecy." It felt weird talking to a mummy, but I wanted to get my prophecy now; I was getting a little impatient. Maybe try something more formal.

"O' great Oracle, would you ever so kindly tell me what my prophecy is?... Please?" Still nothing happened. I did everything I thought of to try and get her talking. I spoke in rhymes like she did. I knelt on the ground, I bowed. I tried more rambunctious things like jumping around waving my arms around. I eventually started yelling at her, and still nothing happened.

Ugh, I give up. Then I thought, maybe it's like in those movies or books where as your leaving something happens. So I started walking back to where I had come from. I stepped onto the ladder. Nothing. I pretended I wasn't paying attention to her and walking away. Nothing. I ended up giving up. I stepped down the ladder, closed the trap door and left the Big House, without the Oracle moving once.

**Thalia's POV**

"He sure has been up there a long time," I said. We were all sitting at table twelve at the dining pavilion. Chiron was reading a novel, Annabeth was looking at the laptop Daedalus had given her, and Nico was staring off into space. So in other words no one had heard what I said.

"I said, Percy sure has been up there a long time."

"Don't worry about it Thalia," Nico said. "He probably wanted time to think about the prophecy afterward." I didn't think that was true. Usually Percy goes straight to Chiron after he's gotten a prophecy.

"Can I go look for him," I said.

"No need to," Annabeth said suddenly.

"Why?"

"Because he's right there." I turned towards where Annabeth was pointing, and sure enough, there was Percy running towards us.

"Hey Percy, what took you so long," I said as he got close enough to hear me. He said something but I didn't understand him, he was talking so fast.

"Slow down there Speedy Gonzales, what did you say?"

"I said the Oracle didn't give me a prophecy."

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I promise I'll try harder to get Thalia and Nico POV's in the story. I'll also try to get more chapters posted this weekend.**

**P.S. Constructive criticism is encouraged, just don't rage at me! :D Bye! **


	4. Thinking

**Hey guys! Sorry it's been about three days since I've updated, but sometimes I just didn't have the inspiration to write more, but I definitely won't let that happen again. I'm going to warn you right now, there is a very bad joke that I made up in this story, so laugh all you want, it's supposed to be funny. I would also like it if you guys would PLEASE review! You can ask me questions, make constructive criticism, or flat out tell me what you do or don't like about my story so far. But please take the time to review, it helps me create a better story, and it makes me more inspired to write more. So please review!  
-Motomo  
**

**Thalia's POV**

When I heard Percy say that the Oracle didn't give him a prophecy, I immediately assumed he was joking. But then I noticed that his face was serious.

"What do you mean the Oracle didn't give you a prophecy?" I questioned. Percy looked at me and raised an eyebrow at me.

"I mean she didn't give me a prophecy." He muttered something under his breath.

"What was that," I said accusingly.

"Nothing"

"Percy, I swear if you don't tell me, things will get ugly." I raise my fists, but Nico pushed them down.

"Thalia, we don't have time to beat Percy to a pulp," he said.

"Hey!" Percy protested. "She wouldn't beat me to a pulp! In fact I would beat her to a pulp, like, like... an orange!" he paused after he said that, obviously not pleased with his comeback.

"Wow Percy," I said. "Beat me to a pulp like an orange? Great comeback," I said while laughing. Percy's face got red. I knew I embarrassed him, and it was funny.

"Really Thalia," Annabeth said. "I don't really think now is the time to be making jokes." But I could tell she was trying to suppress a laugh.

"Back to main question," Chiron said, ruining all the fun. "What do you mean, Percy, when you said the Oracle wouldn't give you a prophecy?"

"Well, I got up there and she didn't say or do anything."

"Did you-" Annabeth started.

"I tried everything," Percy said.

"Oh..."

"Has this ever happened before?" asked Percy.

"No..." Chiron said staring off into space. "Well there is no time to try to figure out what is wrong. You guys will have to go on this quest without a prophecy."

"But we always have a prophecy!" I complained. I was not about to go on this quest without the proper "ritual".

"Thalia," began Chiron. "I know that there is always a prophecy, but like I said, there is no time to waste."

I was about to retort something back, when Annabeth shot me a warning glance not to say anything.

"Okay, fine, we'll go without a prophecy," I said quietly. "But if something happens on this quest, I told you so!"

"Okay Thalia, you can tell me I told you so," said Annabeth. But I could tell she was thinking _Like that will ever happen!_

"Now get your stuff packed together before it's lights out. That means you only have two hours." Chiron stopped. We all kinda stood there not moving. "That means _go_!" Chiron said ushering us along.

**Percy's POV**

We were all walking toward the cabin area, when Nico stopped.

"Sorry to bring this up, but do you guys really think it's a good idea to go on this quest without a prophecy?" He gave us all a questioning glance.

"We have to go on this quest," said Annabeth. "We can't just leave the Labyrinth to keep growing or whatever it's doing."

Everyone stopped talking after that. I could tell that statement was all that was needed to be said. I was sure that everyone was a little apprehensive to go on this quest.

* * *

When we got to the cabin area we said our goodbyes. Thalia walking towards Zeus's cabin, Nico towards the Big House, and Annabeth towards the Athena cabin. As I walked towards my cabin, Poseidon's cabin, I wondered if I would go through with this quest. Sure I agreed to go, but what happens if I changed my mind in the morning. I decided to dismiss the thought since I knew that I would never do that to my friends.

I got to my cabin and pushed open the door. The smell of the ocean wafted towards me. I sighed. _You won't be smelling this where you're going _I thought. I walked in and closed the door behind me. I looked around and saw all of my stuff lying on the ground from where I left it last time I was here. I then realized that since the cabin wasn't clean, that meant Tyson wasn't here. _He's probably at dad's _I thought jealously. That was the thing, I didn't find it exactly fair that I had to go into the stupid Labyrinth while Tyson got to spend time doing something he enjoyed.

I sat down on my bed a grabbed the backpack that was sitting on my pillow. I grabbed some clothes that I had piled at the end of my bed, and stuffed them in my backpack. Pretty soon my backpack was filled to the brim with clothes, granola bars, and a couple of bottles of water.

I lied down on my bed, looking at the ceiling of the cabin. Pretty soon I was getting drowsy by sheer boredom. I eventually dozed off to sleep without even changing.

* * *

I woke up to loud knocking on my door. I got out of bed and opened the door to see Nico standing there. He had dark circles under his eyes, which I assumed meant he didn't get very much sleep. His dark hair was ruffled with a cowlick on the left side of his head.

"Time to get ready," he said drowsily. He looked about ready to fall over with exhaustion.

"Didn't get much sleep I take it?" He just looked at me as if saying _Isn't that obvious? _I decided that if he didn't want to be asked about his sleep, the I wasn't going to say anything about his hair.

As he walked away I turned back into my cabin and walked over my bed and grabbed my backpack. I took one last look around the cabin.

"I'm gonna miss this place," I said to no one. With that I walked out of Poseidon's cabin.

* * *

Once everyone was showered and had all of their supplies ready, we made our way towards the Big House. There we met Chiron.

"Is everyone ready?" he asked.

"Why do we have to get up so early?" whined Thalia, ignoring Chiron's question.

"Thalia," Nico started. "It's eight o'clock." But Thalia just ignored Nico, and pretended to fall asleep.

"Oh well Thalia, I guess you're to tired to go on this quest," teased Annabeth. With that Thalia jumped up clearly not wanting to miss the quest.

"Okay, since everyone is ready, you best be going," said Chiron.

"Let's dominate this Labyrinth," yelled Thalia. With that her, Annabeth, and Nico started walking towards the woods to Zeus's Fist. I was going to follow when Chiron stopped me.

"Are you positive you want to go with?" he asked.

"Yeah... definitely," I said with a fake smile. I could tell he wasn't pleased with my answer, but before he could say anything I ran to catch up with the others. No matter what, I was going on this quest.

**Soo, what did ya guys think? And how about that great joke at the beginning? Great am I right? Nah, I know it was a bad joke, but I've been waiting for the right moment to put that in there. Anyway is there anyway I can improve? Oh and where exactly does Nico sleep when he's at Camp Half Blood since there isn't a Hades Cabin? I wasn't sure where he slept, so I had him sleep in the Big House. If you know please say so in a review/PM. Thanks!**

**Hiddentears13: Yes Thalia is a Huntress and I'm probably not going to do a Thalico, but I'll keep it in consideration! Thanks!**

**Seshat Constance: thanks for the continued reviews!**

**Bye!**


	5. Confessions

**Hey guys, sorry for the wait, I kinda got distracted... a lot. Anyway I really hope you guys like this chapter, but it's kind of a filler chapter, so no action and a lot of dialogue. So sorry to those who don't like dialogue chapters... Enjoy!**

**Nico's POV**

We walked a ways, when I realized that Percy wasn't with us. I looked at Thalia and Annabeth but they didn't seem to notice that Percy was missing. I stopped but the girls just kept walking caught up in what seemed like a heated conversation. I only caught little snippets of what they were saying such as "It's not like that" or "I told you that would happen!"

I decided to turn back to the problem at hand. I looked around hoping to see Percy, but didn't find him. I was going to say something to the girls, when I heard thundering footsteps behind me. I mean the footsteps were so loud, I was surprised the whole camp didn't come running to see what all the ruckus was. I turned and wasn't surprised to find Percy running towards me.

"Jeez Percy, couldn't have stepped any louder could you," I said to Percy. He gave me a smirk as he finally caught up with me.

"Where have you been?" I asked.

"I wasn't even gone a minute," said Percy avoiding the question.

Percy it's obviously been _two _minutes," I said teasingly. He just looked at me. "Percy, I meant that as a joke," I finally said.

"I know." I looked at him confused. "I mean it wasn't a very good one..."

"Hey!" I shouted and punched him in the arm.

"Hey, what are you slowpokes doing back there?" Thalia said, just now realizing that we were back here.

"Well, if you guys had been paying attention, you would have noticed that Percy wasn't with for a minute or two." Annabeth looked ready to shout at Percy for not being with us the whole time, but I shot her a look that said not to. She looked between me and Percy trying to figure out what happened.

"Where were you?" she asked Percy anyway.

"No where," he said, not making eye contact with anyone. She looked at Percy with the 'I know you're hiding something' look, but didn't say anything.

"Anyway..." I said breaking the awkward situation. "We should keep walking."

Annabeth narrowed her eyes at me. It was as if her eyes were saying _I know you're hiding something and I _will _find out. _She then turned and walked with Thalia, resuming their conversation from before.

I turned to look back at Percy. He was watching something in the woods. But when I looked nothing was there. _What did Annabeth think I was hiding?_ I thought. I didn't know anything about Percy that she didn't know. While I thought about it, I realized that Percy never actually did answer my question from before. If he answered, then maybe I could tell Annabeth so she would back off. I wasn't hiding anything, so she shouldn't pester me.

I decided to try and ask Percy the question from before. "Percy, what _were _you doing back there?" He gave me a confused look but then realized what I was talking about and averted his gaze.

"Percy?" I asked worriedly. I looked at him but he seemed focused on something else. I was about to let it go, when he started talking.

"Chiron just wanted to make sure I was ready for this quest."

"Why wouldn't you be?" I asked. I knew that Percy was usually excited for quests, so why was this time any different?

"It's just..." He stopped and looked at me as if deciding if he could trust me or not. "Promise me you won't tell anyone." He looked at me expectantly.

"Promise," I said. And just took make him feel better "On the River Styx." The sky rumbled at my new promise. He looked relieved. He took a deep breath.

"I'm scared," he finally said. "I'm scared about this whole quest. What happens if I do die, or I do go crazy. What happens if the Oracle not telling me a prophecy is, is... bad luck?" He looked on the verge of tears. I'd never actually seen him cry...

"Percy, none of that's going to happen. I _won't _let it happen." He didn't look convinced. "I promise it won't happen. In fact, I promise on the River Styx." Thunder rumbled again. Wow, I told myself, two promises on the River Styx. I must be crazy. Percy's face lightened up when he heard the promise. And before I could say anything he gave me a brotherly hug.

"Thanks," he said. And then he ran off. _Even though he's my cousin_ I thought, _he's the best brother anyone can have._

**Thalia's POV**

"What do you think Nico's hiding?" Annabeth aksed.

"Quit being a nosy old lady Annabeth," I said. "If it were anything important, I'm pretty sure he'd tell us." I could tell she wasn't convinced.

"Nico's hidden things from us before, so what would stop him now." Annabeth said. She had a point. Nico did keep secrets.

"Do you think it's about Percy? Or maybe it's about the quest?" Annabeth continued. "What if-"

"What if," I cut in, "You dropped it? If it was anything important, he would tell us." I said emphasizing the last few words. Annabeth looked at me as if saying, _how dare you tell me to drop the subject. _Which was probably all she got from what I said.

"You can't tell me what I can and cannot do!" She snapped. "If anything, it would be I who told you to not do something!" At that point I stopped listening to her. I turned and looked behind us and saw both Percy and Nico running to catch up to us.

"Why do you guys keep falling behind? You know if you guys are gonna be this slow running from monsters, I'm ditching you guys." I was waiting for a sarcastic response but didn't get one. Percy just walked past me staring at the ground, while Nico watched him. I reached and grabbed Nico's arm, pulling him aside.

"What happened?" I asked sternly.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Don't play stupid with me." I looked at him. He was wringing his hands. "Your hiding something," I said matter-of-factly.

"No I'm not." He wasn't looking at me in the eyes, but at Percy walking ahead.

"He told you something didn't he?" I asked. Nico's gaze fell to the floor, looking defeated. I could tell he didn't want to tell me what was said. I looked at him wearily and then at Percy, who at that point turned around to see why we weren't following.

"I won't ask what he said, but if you find it important, please, please tell me. Okay?"

"Sure," he said. There was an awkward silence. "We'd better catch up with them," Nico finally said.

"Yeah," I agreed, and started walking towards Percy and Annabeth.

* * *

We finally made it to Zeus's fist. I looked at our group. Annabeth was still fuming from before, Nico was trying his best to not look at me, and Percy was staring at the entrance. Me, I was ready to jump in the Labyrinth.

"You guys ready for this?" I was practically jumping with excitement. There was a mixed reaction from the others. Nico just nodded still not looking at me. Annabeth was already at the entrance, her hand hovering above the Delta symbol, and Percy just sat there with a scared look on his face.

"It's okay Percy," I said startling him. "You can do this, we're all here to help." He looked up at me, and I gave him a warm smile.

"Annabeth, would you do the honors and open the entrance?"

"Already have," she said pointing to the already opened door. I was about to walk in, but noticed that Percy was already halfway through the door. I let Annabeth and Nico go in before me.

"Here goes nothing," I muttered to myself as I plunged into the darkness.

**What did you guys think? This chapter was kind of to create character development... Oh, and the whole Nico and Percy thing... COMPLETELY BROTHERLY! Nothing more... so I'll try updating more! Bye! **(Please Review!)

**-Motomo**


	6. Decisions

**Hey guys, so this chapter is actually, wait for it, in the Labyrinth! Yay! I'm pretty sure most of you guys were waiting for this since I kept dragging on and on about actually agreeing to go on this quest, but here you go! Enjoy! And don't forget to rate and review! Thanks!**

**Annabeth's POV**

The first thing that hit me when I got into the Labyrinth, was the smell. It smelled like death. I mean before it smelled like death, but this time it was overpowering. I looked around trying to find what produced the awful stench, but I could hardly see.

"Is everyone okay?" I asked. All I got as a response were moans. This was understandable since once we walked through the entrance we fell about five feet.

"I feel like somebody hit a sledgehammer against my leg," said Percy. I looked over at Percy seeing him grasping his leg.

"Fall funny?" I asked. He nodded. "Can you walk?" He stood up but stumbled.

"I think I can manage." I nodded but was still a little concerned for Percy. We haven't even been in here for five minutes and he was already injured. _Maybe we shouldn't have gone on this quest, _I thought. But I pushed that out of my mind, this was merely a coincidence.

We forged ahead, wandering through the darkness. _Why is it so dark in here, _I thought.

"Why is it so dark?" asked Percy, as if reading my thoughts.

"I don't know. Maybe it's an older section of time, when there wasn't electricity," I suggested.

"Hmm, I don't think so," said Nico. "Even if this was before electricity there would at least be torches."

"Unless it was way back when, like in the dinosaur age," said Thalia.

"Thalia, I don't even think there were Greek gods during the dinosaur age," said Nico. And then mumbled "Anyone smart would know that." Thalia looked ready to kill Nico.

"Don't even think about it," I said before Thalia even had a chance to move her fists. Thalia sighed, obviously disappointed she couldn't beat Nico up.

"What's your plan, 'Wise Girl'," Thalia said sarcastically. I was about to tell her a brilliant plan, but thought otherwise. I remembered from the last time I was in here that when I announced my plan, the Labyrinth got rid of what I was following. So instead of saying my original plan, I thought of one that would hopefully trick the Labyrinth.

"My plan," I started, saying each word loudly. "Is to walk around aimlessly not trying to find the right path." With that statement said, I received startled looks.

"So your plan is," Percy gulped. "To purposely get lost?!" He looked scared to death. I felt bad doing this to Percy, but this was our only chance to get through this maze without getting lost.

"Yup," I said cheerfully. I said it cheerfully because my goal was to make Percy feel better, but it only seemed to make him more agitated.

I decided to turn my attention away from Percy, and back to the Labyrinth in front of me. And not to my surprise, the Labyrinth did its best to prevent me from reaching my goal, because in front of me a path glowed golden turning this way and that.

"What is that?" said Nico and Thalia in unison.

"That, my friends, is the path we _don't _want to take." Percy gave me a questioning glance trying to figure out what I was doing. I gave him a smile and decided that I would test my theory.

I stepped on the path, followed it a few feet before turning onto the path that wasn't lit. But before I could take two steps, the Labyrinth changed and there in front of me was the lit path. Realization dawned on Percy's, Nico's, and Thalia's face. I prayed to all the Greek gods, asking them to make sure Thalia, Percy, and Nico didn't give away my plan. I was glad when I saw that they understood not to say anything.

We continued walking a ways, always making sure to turn off the path once in a while, so the Labyrinth wouldn't catch on to what we were doing. When we turned off the path yet again, we were faced with two doors. I thought it would be simple enough to just choose the wrong door and end up going through the right door, but the path went through both doors.

"Which one do we choose?" asked Percy who had been silent most of the way.

I thought about it. _Maybe if I keep using my current strategy, it'll show us the right way..._

"I want to go through the door that leads away from our destination," I said loudly. When I thought about it, we didn't really have a destination in mind, so where was the Labyrinth leading us?

We waited for the path to only light the way we were supposed to go, but nothing happened.

"Which one should we go through?" asked Nico.

"I think we should split up," said Thalia.

"NO!" shouted Percy. Thalia flinched, obviously not expecting Percy's outburst.

"Percy, I only suggested it. It didn't mean we were going to..." said Thalia, but Percy wasn't paying attention. He just kept muttering to himself saying "no" over and over again.

"I want to go through that door," said Percy, pointing to the right one. He finally stopped muttering and focused all his attention at the right door.

"Umm, Percy, I don't-"

"I want to go through it," said Percy cutting Thalia off.

Part of me agreed with Percy, we should choose randomly, but the other part of me wanted to go through the left one, since left is always the way to go.

"We'll go through the right door," I said.

"Why-" started Nico. But he stopped after he caught my warning look.

Percy just ignored all of us and walked through the door, not waiting for any of us.

"Should we?" started Thalia.

"Yeah," I said. And we followed Percy through the right door. A thought nagged at me, _You should have went through the left door, _but I ignored it and continued walking.

**Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. Be sure to review! I mean really, please review, it makes me more inspired to write, plus I love your guy's feedback! Thanks again! Bye!**

**-Motomo**

**Before I forget...**

**Guest: Don't worry, there won't be a Thalico. :D Thanks for reading!**

**Seshat Constance: Thanks again for reviewing! **


	7. The Doors of Thoughts

**Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed the last chapter! If you did you'll like this one even more. It's in the Labyrinth and it also has action! Yay!Just to let you guys know, there is one little swear word in this chapter. I don't usually swear but I felt like the story needed it. There might be a little more swearing in chapters to come, but I'm not sure, so don't expect it. Anyway, Enjoy!  
**

**Percy's POV**

I don't know what made me want to go through the door on the right. All I knew was when I got there, a part of me _wanted _to go through the right door. When Thalia suggested that we should split up, I freaked out. _Why on Earth, would anyone _want _to split up in off all places, the Labyrinth? _I thought. So I decided to make my point clear. There were two choices, the left door and the right door, and I wanted the right door; I wasn't taking no for an answer.

Instead of waiting for the others to follow, I went ahead. Part of me wanted to just leave them, but the other part of me was too scared to go on without them.

Once I got through the door I turned around hoping to see the others there, but when I turned, they weren't there. In fact the door was gone. At that point I started to panic.

"Guys?" I asked quietly. I didn't get a response. "Guys? Are you there?" I asked louder than last time. I was really starting to freak out. "Guys? Where are you?! This isn't funny!" I practically screamed that time.

I was terrified. Where were they? I kept asking myself. Soon I was crying. "Where are you!?" I screamed over and over again.

I went up to the wall where the door had been, and started banging and punching it. "WHERE ARE YOU!?" I said again, but still didn't get an answer. I looked at my hands and noticed that they were bleeding. _How? _I thought. Then I heard it, the sound of someone's voice.

"Hello?" I asked. "Is someone there? Thalia? Annabeth? Nico?" I stopped, listening for any noises. I was about to start screaming again when I heard the voice again. This time though, I could understand it.

"Hi Percy." I immediately recognized the voice as Thalia's. "We know you're trapped back there, but it's funny listening to you scream, so we're gonna leave you there." I froze... _They're gonna leave me? _

"No, Thalia we can't do that." I was relieved when realized it was Annabeth talking. _She won't leave me here _I thought hopefully. "We have to stay and listen." I stared at the wall Annabeth and Thalia were standing behind. Any hope I had sizzled away, but then I remembered that Nico was still there.

"Nico!" I yelled pounding on the wall.

"Percy! I'll get you out- hold on." I heard movement from behind, and then a scream. I quickly realized that it was Nico.

"Nico!" I yelled. "Nico, what happened!"

"Percy, run! They'll ki-" Nico screamed again, and then I heard the sound of an arrow hit something...

"No," I muttered. "No! Nico! What did you do to him?!"

"Worthless piece of crap," I heard Thalia say.

"Yeah," Annabeth agreed.

"What?" I whispered. I was still in shock after what they did to Nico.

"Your next" I heard Thalia and Annabeth say in unison.

Then I heard a pounding noise. I looked at the wall. Pieces of rubble were falling, and then finally the wall fell. I immediately knew the Labyrinth had destroyed it, just for me. Once the dust cleared, I saw Thalia standing there, fists raised. Annabeth looked at me as if the thought of killing me was great. And then I noticed Nico. He was lying against the wall, an arrow in his chest, head, and right arm. On the ground was his sword covered in blood, so he obviously got at least one hit at Thalia. I looked back at Thalia, and saw blood running down her arm from a wound on her left shoulder. I winced when I saw how deep it was. I kept thinking over and over, _would Nico have died if I was there?_ I didn't know what was up with Annabeth and Thalia, but I didn't want to find out because I knew they couldn't wait to kill me. I turned and bolted out further into the Labyrinth just as Annabeth and Thalia started running too.

I was running for my life. Thoughts kept running through my mind like _what happened to Annabeth and Thalia, _or _what did Nico do that got him killed? _I ran for what seemed like hours trying to lose Annabeth and Thalia, but I couldn't shake them. I turned around a corner and stopped, breathing hard. I couldn't hear the girls running. No footsteps. No shouts. _Did I lose them? _I thought. And then an arrow hit the wall in front of me. I froze, hoping they would think I wasn't there. Another arrow hit the wall in front of me, splitting the arrow that was already there. I chose this opportunity to run away.

I was running and running, losing energy. Sooner or later I would collapse. I screamed as an arrow whizzed past my ear. I ducked as another one flew above my head. I turned another corner and risked a glance behind me, Thalia was holding her Hunter's bow and Annabeth was holding a very old-looking bow. She was reaching over to grab one of Thalia's arrows. I moved behind a wall before either one of them could fire at me. I was about to start running again when Annabeth started talking.

"You know running is useless Percy." I didn't say anything, praying to every Greek god that she and Thalia would go away.

"We'll keep chasing you until you collapse of exhaustion and then we'll have our chance." Annabeth continued. I sighed, I guess the gods don't care or their powers don't work in here. But I was highly doubting the latter.

This time Thalia started talking. "Percy, why don't you come out here, I won't hurt you. I won't let Annabeth hurt you either." I knew she was just trying to lure me out, so I didn't move.

"You know, with you being a Hunter of Artemis, I would have expected better aim from you." I said. I stopped breathing once I realized what I said. _Why did you say that? _I scolded myself.

"Oh, Percy, Percy, Percy, acting just like Nico. I should have you know, that's why he's lying dead back there. All because he couldn't keep his damn mouth shut." As she finished her sentence, an arrow flew dangerously close to the edge of the wall I was leaning against.

"Now, now Thalia," said Annabeth. "Let's not swear. We don't want to give Percy the pleasure of you freaking out, now do we?" I raised my eyebrow at that one. What pleasure? It's not like I wanted to get killed.

Thalia started talking to Annabeth, so I decided to sneak away. Once I thought I was far enough away, I slowed down. Taking a deep breath.

"How am I gonna get out of here?" I said to no one.

"Hmm, let me think about this?" I turned around and saw Thalia standing behind me, her arrow pointing at my head, Annabeth's pointing at my chest.

"What do you want from me?"I whispered.

"Mmm, maybe we want you... dead?" Thalia said obviously amused at the advantage she had over me.

"What did I do to you?" Thalia shrugged. She looked at Annabeth and smiled. I looked between both of them, wondering what they we doing, when Thalia turned back to me.

"Three."

I stared at her. She had a crazed look on her face. Her blue eyes looking amused.

"Two."

I then realized what she was doing. This was the countdown to my death. I wanted to run, but before I could even move a muscle, Annabeth fired her arrow. It struck me in my stomach, and I fell over.

I looked at Thalia, she hadn't fired her arrow yet. I sighed, or tried to, but all I did was cough up blood. I could feel it running down my chin. Then my vision started going blurry until the point where I couldn't see at all. Everything was black.

"I didn't say one yet."

And that was the last thing I heard.

**Nico's POV  
(Right after Percy walked through the door)**

I looked at the door that Percy stepped through. For some reason this door gave me a bad feeling. I looked at Thalia and Annabeth hoping they were getting the same feeling I was, but if they were, they didn't say anything.

I looked back at the door and gasped.

"Uh, girls?" Thalia and Annabeth turned towards me. "Look." I pointed to the door on the right.

"I-Is that Percy?" Thalia asked.

"Yeah," I said. Percy was lying on the ground right outside the door. He was twitching and sometimes writhing on the ground.

"Why is he on the ground?" Thalia asked bluntly.

I looked at Annabeth hoping she would have an answer, but she was just looking at Percy. I was going to go to where Percy was when Annabeth shouted at me to stop. I turned around and saw Annabeth's eyes wide.

"The Doors of Sképseis!" Annabeth shouted suddenly.

"The Doors of what?" asked Thalia.

"The Doors of Thoughts," I translated.

"Which means?"

"Thalia, Percy went through the Doors of Thoughts. Do you remember what they are?" Annabeth asked Thalia. Thalia shook her head. "The Doors of Thoughts are two doors that make you see your thoughts. They're so realistic you think it's actually happening. A person who goes through usually passes out."

Thalia just stared at her, clearly not getting what we were talking about.

"One door," I said continuing for Annabeth. "Makes you see the most horrible thing you can think of. The other door shows you the happiest thought you can think of. The Doors usually pick a thought that directly relates to whatever you're dealing with at the time. So that probably means that Percy's thoughts have to deal with this quest. And I have a feeling that Percy didn't go through the happy thoughts door."

Thalia narrowed her eyes at me. And then turned towards Annabeth.

"How are we supposed to go through and get Percy without passing out ourselves. Our only other option would be to go through the other door. That's bad because one, we would pass out anyway, and two, we wouldn't be going in the same direction as him."

"The solution is simple," Annabeth stated. "You have to go through the door without thinking about the doors."

"Oh. Seems pretty easy."

"It would seem easy, but the Doors try to get you to think about them. That's why you need to think of something that requires all of your attention."

"Okay. I'll-"

"Don't tell me," Annabeth said cutting me off. "The Doors will try to use it against you." Thalia and I just nodded.

Once we picked our topics to think about, we made our way through the door.

* * *

We made it to the other side without trouble. I was about to congratulate ourselves, when Percy started screaming.

I quickly knelt next to him. He was shaking and screaming at the top of his lungs. He looked horrible. He was extremely pale and was looking feverish. His fit went on for about another half hour. I was beginning to think he would never wake up. Then Percy's eyes shot open. He looked at me at first and screamed, backing up against the wall. He then noticed Annabeth and Thalia and literally freaked out.

"Get away from me!" he shouted pointing at Thalia and Annabeth. "Get away!"

Annabeth looked confused and Thalia just backed up. I looked at Percy. He had a wild look in his eye, but he also looked terrified. He then turned is attention away from the girls and looked at me.

"Nico?" I looked at Annabeth hoping she would tell me what to do, but she just looked at me helplessly.

"Percy, it's okay." I said. "What's the matter?"

He looked at me and whispered something but I couldn't understand him. He then looked up at Annabeth and Thalia, obviously terrified.

"They killed you Nico," he said turning back to me. "They killed you." He paused for a time. "They also killed..." he didn't finish his sentence, but instead put his head in his knees and started crying.

"Who Percy? Who else did they kill?" I asked. He didn't say anything for a long time. And then he finally answered.

"Me..."

**Sooo, what do you guys think? Honestly this is my favorite chapter so far. But I want to know what you guys think. Was it good? Bad? Boring? Exciting? I want- no need to know! :D**

**P.S: Just letting you guys know, there is no such thing as the Doors of S****képseis a.k.a. The Doors of Thoughts. I just made it up because the story called for it.**

**Bye!**

**-Motomo**


	8. Unbelievable

**Hey guys, sorry it's been a while since I last updated. I kinda got sick... ugh I hate being sick. But, now that it's over, I had plenty of time to update! This chapter is a little short, and to me it's not the best one, BUT that doesn't mean you guys won't like it! So I hope you enjoy it!**

**Annabeth's POV**

I couldn't believe what Percy said. How could he ever think that Thalia and I would ever kill him and Nico? I mean, just before the quest, I told Percy that I wouldn't let anything happen to him.

I looked at Thalia, wondering what she thought about the situation. She, for the most part, seemed shocked, but I could tell that she was angry and hurt. I knew that she hated being told she did something she hadn't done. But couldn't she give Percy a break? The poor guy went through the Doors of Thought, and didn't go through the happy thoughts door. I'd heard of stories that people told about going through the door Percy went through. Most people would be traumatized for life or they would kill themselves.

No. I wouldn't allow myself to think about that. I knew Percy, and one thing that I know for sure, is that Percy never gave up. I looked down at Percy huddled on the ground. He was shivering and his eyes were wide, brimming with tears that threatened to fall. I hated seeing Percy like this. He looked so... weak. _But, he isn't _I told myself.

_He's just under a tremendous amount of stress... and fear._

I started to make my way over to Percy. _Maybe, just maybe _I thought.

"Get away from me!" screamed Percy. He tried to back up further but he was already against the wall.

I closed my eyes and sighed. I had to think of something to calm Percy down. I knelt down on the ground.

"Percy," I said calmly, "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. Thalia's not going to hurt you." I looked up at Thalia. Her gaze softened from earlier, but I could tell that she was still upset.

Percy tried backing up against the wall again, trying to get away from me. He must of realized that the wall was behind him, so instead he started moving to the right.

"Come on Percy," said Thalia suddenly. "You just had a dream. You went through the Doors of Thought. I would tell you what they are, but I'm pretty sure Annabeth would much rather bore you to death." She gave me a smirk.

I looked at Percy, hoping that would have made him laugh, but he didn't show that he'd heard what Thalia said. He then said something but I couldn't understand him.

"He wants to know why you did it."

I looked up surprised. I'd almost completely forgotten that Nico was there. He was looking at me expectantly and then back at Percy.

"Percy," I said scooting closer to him. "Thalia and I would never do anything like that to you or Nico. What you saw in your dream, wasn't real. It was just a- a figment of your imagination. It was something that the Labyrinth wanted you to see." I knew I was lying to Percy, when in fact what Percy saw was what he thought about subconsciously. But I didn't want to tell him that. He might think that since it was a dream, and demigod's dreams usually told the future... I stopped. _What if what Percy dreamed about was something that_ was_ going to happen? What if every dream, no matter the circumstances, did show what was destined to happen? _I couldn't let myself think about that.

Percy looked up at me. His gaze was hard. He sighed and looked at Thalia who turned away. And then looked at Nico and his eyes softened dramatically and he actually smiled. It was a good, real smile, not the fake ones he'd been giving lately.

And without any warning he gut up and ran out into the Labyrinth. Leaving us behind.

**Percy's POV**

I didn't- couldn't believe them. What they'd done seemed so real. I kept running. I didn't know where I was going. I kept thinking over and over in my head, _why did they do_ _it? _A part of me kept asking myself that if Thalia and Annabeth did do what I saw, then why was Nico alive? Why was I alive?

That was enough to make me stop running. _Why was I alive?_ I kept asking myself that. I could hear the others yelling my name. I had to run, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I stood there thinking. I then let my knees buckle.

I fell to the ground. _Maybe this is all dream, _I told myself. I closed my eyes. Hoping that I was right, that this was a dream. I heard someone run up next to me.

"Is he okay?" I heard Thalia ask. I then felt cold fingers touch my neck where you could feel my pulse. Nico, I thought suddenly.

I sat upright, startling Nico. I looked at him. He looked relieved that I was okay, but I could still tell that he was worried.

"Are they right?" I asked, "Was it all just a dream?" Nico nodded. I looked at the ground. It was all a dream. I felt stupid. How could I think that two of my best friends would kill Nico, who was standing right next to me alive and well.

"I'm- I'm sorry guys," I said quietly.

"Ah, it's alright Percy. You were just a little crazy. I mean everyone is." I laughed.

"Thanks Thalia. You're right, everyone is crazy." I stood up, feeling a lot better. I started to stumble while getting up, but Nico caught my arm.

"Thanks," I said.

"No problem."

I stood there dusting off my pants, which was probably useless since there's dust and dirt everywhere. As I was standing there, I started feeling dizzy. I could feel myself becoming unstable, and start to fall over.

"Whoa there Percy. You alright?" asked Nico while catching me. I didn't answer him. I couldn't. I was getting really dizzy. Every time I moved my head, my head swam. Things were getting blurry, and the walls were spinning.

I started walking towards a moss covered wall. _Maybe I got up to fast._ I tripped but caught myself. _What's happening? _I tried walking more but I couldn't do it without almost falling.

"Percy?" asked Annabeth worriedly.

"I'm fi-" I fell to the ground. There was an unbelievable pain in my head. It felt as though I had ten migraines at once. It was so painful I wanted to die. I couldn't speak, let alone think without almost screaming. I wanted to open my eyes and look at my friends, hoping that maybe they were coming over to help, but opening my eyes hurt. The pain in my head started to become worse. It was throbbing and felt like it was stabbing me at the same time. I couldn't help but scream in agony.

"Percy!" Annabeth screamed.

I couldn't take it anymore. I just wanted it to go away. It hurt so bad. I sat there clutching my head, crying silent tears.

Why wouldn't it go away?

**So what did you guys think? A little weird right? Yeah, I just had the idea about the pain Percy's going through, and I really wanted to use it! I hope you guys enjoyed it! So, r****eviewing reviews time!**

**SorryNoName: Thank you soo much! That made me so happy when I read it!**

**Lolcupcake: I'm glad you like my story. You are somewhat right about Percy. But I'm not going to give the story away! And thank you for saying I portrayed Thalia correctly! That made me happy! 'Cause I wasn't sure if I was making her character correctly.**

**Seshat Constance: Thank you so much for reviewing yet again! I'm so glad that you are enjoying my story.  
**

**One last thing, when you guys are waiting for my next update (since I don't have a set plan on when to update) I would very highly recommend that you go and check out Seshat Contstance's story "An Unexpected Variable" I must say, it is an extremely good crossover of Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl! So go check it out, it's great!**

**Thanks again everyone! Don't forget to rate and review! I read every one and answer any questions that you might have. You can also PM me, since I check my inbox everyday.  
**

**Bye!**

**-Motomo**


	9. Unwanted Events

**Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait for this chapter. I kinda got distracted and yeah... I'm pretty sure you can guess. Anyway I hope you'll enjoy this chapter. I think my favorite part is the end, which when you read it, will probably seem weird. But hey, I am pretty weird. :)Oh, there is almost a swear word in this chapter. (You'll see what I mean when you read it)  
Anyway enjoy!  
**

**Thalia's POV**

I looked at Percy, wondering what was wrong. One moment he was fine and then next thing I know, he's on the ground in a lot of pain.

"Annabeth you're the smart one, what's wrong with him?" I whispered to Annabeth.

"I- I don't know," said Annabeth quietly. She looked horrified, and I could tell she was trying to figure out what was wrong.

I looked back at Percy. He was lying on the ground clutching his head while Nico was trying to calm him down. _At least Percy's not screaming anymore_ I thought to myself. I spoke to soon because he started screaming again even louder. His face was contorted in pain, but from the look of things, there wasn't anything physically wrong with him. There wasn't any blood or broken bones (which Percy could handle just fine). The only thing he did was clutch his head.

"Is there something wrong with his head?" I asked.

"Yeah," Nico answered. "I thought that was obvious."

"Come on Nico," Annabeth said. "This is no time for snide remarks."

"Do you think it has somethi-" before I could finish my sentence, Percy was suddenly silent. I looked to Nico, hoping he'd explain. _Hopefully he's not dead._

"Don't worry," started Nico, "He's unconscious. I don't know why it happened so suddenly. Maybe it became so painful that his body, well, gave up."

Annabeth went over to Percy and laid a hand on his forehead. "He's extremely feverish. Do either of you have nectar?" asked Annabeth.

I rummaged in my backpack and found some. "Here," I said as I handed it to Annabeth. She took it gingerly as if she grasped it to hard, the container would break. She then opened the canister and poured some in Percy's mouth.

"Umm, isn't that a little too much," I asked.

"No. With the temperature he has, this is barely enough, but I don't want to take any chances," said Annabeth as she handed to canister back to me.

"We should probably get moving," said Nico. I looked over at him. He didn't look at me, just at the unconscious figure of Percy.

"What about Percy?" I asked.

"One of us will have to carry him." He paused. "Do you guys hear that?"

I listened for a minute. I could hear what sounded like heavy footsteps or an army of footsteps. I seriously hoped it was just one thing and not many. We couldn't protect Percy if we were attacked by a whole bunch of monsters.

"I'll carry him," I said. I went over to Percy and picked him up. "Jeez, what's this kid been eating."

"I don't think it's him that weighs so much, it's probably his backpack," said Annabeth. She reached over and pulled off his backpack. I then remembered that I put some of my stuff in Percy's backpack as a joke. I hoped Annabeth wouldn't look inside. I was glad when she just put the backpack on her shoulder.

"Well, we should probably get going so whatever is back there doesn't catch up to us," said Annabeth.

"Yeah, and hopefully Percy will be awake by then," I said.

**Nico's POV**

I was really worried about Percy. It was pretty weird for him to just go unconscious so suddenly. Especially since he didn't have any injuries. I decided to push the thought out of my head, and kept walking.

We probably walked for about two hours when Thalia spoke.

"Hey, uh, I'm pretty sure you guys aren't tired yet, but when you're lugging around dead weight, you'll be exhausted." She went over to the wall and carefully put Percy on the ground. "Plus, I think he's starting to wake up."

I looked at Percy, and sure enough he was waking up. He opened his eyes and sat upright.

"How long was I out?"

"Long enough to give me long-term back problems, that's for sure," said Thalia.

"About a couple of hours," I answered. He gave me a look but I couldn't tell what it was. "So uh, you okay Percy?" asked Annabeth.

"Yeah," he stopped and looked down the hallway we'd just been through. "Why did you guys keep walking.

"We heard noises, so we decided not to take any chances," said Annabeth eying him warily. Percy just stared at Annabeth.

"Are you sure you're okay Percy?" It was obvious that Annabeth was worried.

"Annabeth, he's fine," I said. She looked at me as if saying _He is not fine, and I intend to find out why _but she didn't say anything.

I looked back to Percy, but he was looking at the hallway we went through. I looked to where he was looking, and saw something shine.

"Did you see that Percy?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"We need to move _now_," I said.

"Why what's the matter?" asked Annabeth.

"There's something down the hallway," I said as I helped Percy up.

"It's probably the same thing you guys heard last time," said Percy.

That seemed to make Thalia and Annabeth worried, because they quickly grabbed their backpacks' and started making their way down the hallway.

"I'm glad they waited for us," said Percy sarcastically.

"Yeah," I said. "Come on we should probably hurry up."

With that Percy picked up his backpack and we started running after Thalia and Annabeth.

* * *

Once we all ran for what seemed like ages, we stopped and took a break. We were in a room that looked to be in ruins. There were broken pillars and the walls and floors were beyond repair. The walls had pictures that once might have shown a great battle. But now all that could be seen were the occasional soldier and pieces of a castle. The floor was covered in dust, weapons, skeletons and many pieces of armor.

"What do you think this place is supposed to be?" I asked.

"Who cares about that," said Thalia. "What I want to know is if we lost whatever was chasing us.

"We didn't," said Percy suddenly.

I looked behind me, and not to far behind us was an army of monsters. There were Lastrygonians, Dracnae, Cyclops, Hell Hounds, and a lot more.

"Run!" shouted Annabeth.

"What?! We can take them," said Thalia.

"No we can't," said Annabeth as she ran ahead.

We all started running, hoping the monsters didn't notice us. Annabeth was in the lead, with Thalia following close behind. She had her bow out with an arrow notched in it. I was behind Thalia with Percy beside me. I risked a look behind me. It was pretty obvious that the monsters noticed us. Great, that's what we need, an army of monsters chasing us. I looked back in front of me, but before I made it very far, I found myself tripping over a piece of rubble.

"Shi-...!" I said under my breath. I caught myself with my hands before my face could it the ground. Percy was standing next to me arm reaching down to help me up. I reached up and grabbed his hand. I was about to stand up when Annabeth screamed.

"Percy! Watch out!"

He was fast enough because before he could so much as turn, a Lastrygonian hit him with a piece of rubble sending him flying across the room, crashing into the wall.

I wanted to go and get him, but I knew he was unconscious and I wouldn't be able to carry him. I ran and caught up to Annabeth and Thalia.

"We have to get him!" screamed Annabeth. She tried running back to where Percy was, but Thalia pulled her back.

"Annabeth it's too dangerous," I said.

We kept running, Annabeth protesting the whole time. I wondered if Percy would be okay. Part of me hoped he would be but the other part knew he wouldn't be.

I then realized, I didn't keep my promise. And I swore on the River Styx.

**So what did you guys think? Pretty intense at the end right? Oh I need suggestions of what would happen if you broke your promise on the River Styx 'cause I don't know what to put. If I don't get any suggestions, I can't update. 'Cause the next chapter will have what would happen. Sooo, Please, Please give me suggestions! :)  
**

**Reviewing Reviews Time!**

**Seshat Constance: Thank you, and I really enjoyed the reply you said to Matt!**

**Matt: I'm really sorry you don't like my story. But thank you for reviewing and sharing your opinion. Everyone deserves an opinion no matter what it is.**

**Lolcupcake: Thank you! I appreciate your review. I'm glad you enjoy the story!**

**Guest: Here you go!**

**Thank You for reading. Don't forget to review or PM me!**

**-Motomo**


	10. Consequences

**Hey guys! So, yeah this chapter is way overdue... I could give you a billion excuses as to why I didn't update, but the truth is, I just didn't get around to it. But here it is! This is probably one of my favorite chapters, so I hope you enjoy it!  
There is a small mention of blood at the very beginning and at the end, but don't worry I didn't describe it or anything. Also I'm sorry if I change from past to present tense in the story. I sorta have trouble with that. Oh and on occasion I accidentally switch to third person. I'm telling you this because it's happened before, but I usually catch it. But if you do see that, tell me and I'll fix it.**

**Anyway enough talk, Enjoy!**

**Percy's POV (Before He Got Hit)**

I was really worried we weren't going to be able to get away from the monsters. They were really close behind._ Hopefully nothing goes wrong,_ I told myself. As I thought that, Nico tripped. I looked behind me. The monsters were close, but not to close. I decided to help Nico up. Once Nico was on his feet I was ready to run. I wasn't going to take any chances. 'Cause the chances of the four of us beating the humongous horde of monsters behind us, were slim.

"Percy watch out!" The scream was that of Annabeth's. I thought _What? _and that's when it happened. The force of what felt like a truck hitting into you hit me. And next thing I knew, I was thrown across the room, where I hit my head on the wall.

I managed to look at what hit me before I lost consciousness. As I was starting to get black spots in my eyes, I saw a Lastrygonian holding a piece of bloody rubble, which I assumed was mine. _Wow, brought down by a rubble wielding Lastrygonian. _And then I fell into unconsciousness.

**Nico's POV**

We were running out of the room, unfortunately without Percy. Annabeth was screaming the entire time. She kept trying to run back to where we left Percy, but Thalia kept a strong grip on her arm.

"We shouldn't have left him!" said Annabeth for the umpteenth time.

At that point I lost my patience with her. "Annabeth! Do you really think there would have been anything we could have done?! Do you really think we could have waltzed up to the monsters saying 'Hey, you know that's our friend you just sent flying across the room. Would it be okay if we dragged him back with us while you guys stayed back here?' Do you really think that?" I shouted.

I was furious. The whole time I was trying to think of some plan to save Percy, while she was whining "We should have gone back" I was sick of it. I know how she feels, I didn't want to leave him either, but that was the choice we had to make. I looked over at Thalia. Her eyes were wide and she had a smirk on her face.

"Would you look at that. Quiet boy here finally snapped!" I was going to snap at her too, but I knew she was just trying to lighten up the mood.

"You know that wasn't exactly what I meant when I said we should have gone back," said Annabeth.

"You know what Annabeth, you're supposed to be the smart one here, why can't you realize that we couldn't have done anything? It was a lost cause." Annabeth winced at my words and that was when I realized what I said.

"Annabeth, that's not what I meant," I started but she cut me off.

"How could you say that about Percy?! He's not a lost cause! He wouldn't be in this situation if you hadn't of tripped." She paused, coming to a realization. "You killed Percy!" She looked crazy, but I knew she was just upset. Her eyes were wide, her hair a mess. She was on the verge of tears, trying to hold them back.

"Annabeth! This is none of our faults. If anyone is to blame it's the Fates. They're the ones who are being cruel. You know what, we should have realized that when Percy didn't get a prophecy," said Thalia.

_Fates. _I thought about that word. _Why is that important? _I asked myself. Then I remembered about my broken promise.

"_What happens if I do die, or I do go crazy. What happens if the Oracle not telling me a prophecy is, is... bad luck?" He looked on the verge of tears. I'd never actually seen him cry... _

_"Percy, none of that's going to happen. I __won't __let it happen." He didn't look convinced. "I promise it won't happen. In fact, I promise on the River Styx." _

I remembered that he was terrified, and I told him I'd never let anything happen. _He trusted me, _I thought. _And I failed him. _

"Umm, guys, I have something I need to tell you," I said. They didn't respond. I looked up from the floor to find Thalia and Annabeth frozen. "Guys?!" I ran over to them, hoping that I was just seeing things, or that they were just messing around. I reached out and touched Thalia's arm. She didn't move a muscle. I backed up to where I was standing before.

I was really starting to freak out. I looked around, hoping to find some reason as to why this was happening. As I turned to the left, there we three figures in the shadows.

My face drained. "No..." I said in disbelief. The three figures stepped out of the shadows. The Fates.

"Nico Di Angelo, Son of Hades, we have been informed that you have broken a promise that you swore upon the River Styx," said Clotho.

"There is a price to pay for breaking a promise as strong as that," said Lachesis.

I didn't know what to say. I was pretty much frozen with fear. _What's going to happen to me?_ Was the only thing that ran through my head. Movement from the Fates pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked at what was in Atropos's hand. It was a clear vial filled with a weird liquid. Atropos saw me glancing at the vial and answered my unasked question.

"This, Nico di Angelo, is water from the River Styx."

"You must drink the entire vial. No more, no less," Lachesis continued. I was going to question how you could drink more, but decided against it.

"You may be wondering what your punishment is," said Clotho. I nodded.

"Once, you have finished the vial, we shall tell you," said Atropos. She walked over to me, and handed the vial over. I grasped the vial with a shaky hand. I took the cork off and heard a faint fizzing sound. I looked once more at Thalia and Annabeth, hoping that they would somehow move and prevent me from doing this, but nothing happened. I took a deep breath, and downed the water.

At first nothing happened, but then there was excruciating pain in my head and chest. I wasn't sure what to clutch first, my head or my chest. But before I could do anything it was over.

"Your punishment, Nico di Angelo, is to suffer any pain physically and mentally that Perseus Jackson suffers," said Lachesis. Clotho, Atropos, and Lachesis were taking leave when I decided to speak for the first time in front of them.

"What's going to happen to Percy?" I asked quickly.

"That, Son of Hades, we cannot tell you," said Clotho.

"One more thing," I started, "why are my friends frozen?"

"We simply created a time stop." Upon seeing my confused look, Atropos continued. "We had it only affect those that were not needed in this conversation. They will be back to normal once we leave. You must not tell them of this, or you shall be punished further, and Perseus shall suffer as well."

"We mustn't stay any longer," said Lachesis. With that they left, and Thalia and Annabeth started to move again.

I was still shocked at what happened. I hoped that in all my lifetime, I wouldn't break a promise sworn on the River Styx. It was terrifying how quickly that could all change. Thalia must have noticed that something was bothering me.

"Nico, what's the matter?" she asked. I desperately wanted to tell them what happened, but I knew that I couldn't. I was still trying to figure out how they could also punish Percy.

"Nothing," I said, managing a weak smile. Thalia didn't look convinced but didn't press further. I quickly looked away from her so she wouldn't see the fear in my eyes. I looked at the spot where the Fates had been. There was no sign of them ever being here.

**Percy's POV**

I woke up to find that I wasn't where I lost consciousness. I tried sitting up, but my head and chest protested. I lifted my arm and wiped something off my face. It was blood. _So what happened wasn't a dream._ I looked around the room I was in, wondering where Nico, Thalia, and Annabeth were. That was when I noticed monsters all around the room.

I freaked out. _What if they noticed me? _Luckily I was in a corner, so there weren't any monsters terribly close by, but they were to close for comfort. Despite whatever injuries I had, I sat up. I almost shouted in pain as I pushed myself up. I looked down at my chest. There was blood coating my shirt. I somehow knew that I had a broken rib. Or maybe multiple. I put my hand to where my head hurt. A bump was starting to form. _I can't believe I didn't break an arm, _I thought. I looked up away from my blood soaked shirt to see the monsters staring at me.

"Well, well, well," said a voice. "Looks like our powerful hero Percy Jackson has awoken." _Why does that voice sound so familiar. _My question was answered when a figure pushed its' way through the group.

I nearly jumped at the sight. There standing in front of me was a person I never wanted to see again.

Luke Castellan

**So what did you guys think? How was Nico's punishment. You can thank Seshat Constance for giving me the idea! Oh and you can also thank them for giving me the Fates names (Clotho, Atropos, and Lachesis) I know the end is probably a bit clichéd, but I felt like I had to put it there. I hopefully will be able to update tomorrow (thank the gods for snow days)**

**For those of you who like Artemis Fowl and or Harry Potter, check out Seshat Constance's An Unexpected Variable! It is an amazing crossover of Artemis Fowl and Harry Potter. And don't be scared away because you haven't read one or the other series. I personally haven't read any of the Harry Potter books and the story still makes sense. Seshat is pretty good at explaining what is happening even if you haven't ****read the books. And if there is something that you don't know, it's easy to look it up on the internet!**

**To those of you who want to know Clotho spins the thread of life, Lachesis measures the length of the life, and Atropos cuts the thread of life. (Thanks Seshat)**

**Reviewing Reviews Time!**

**Seshat Constance: Thank you! Oh and about Percy passing out, I'll explain it in a later chapter. And thank you for giving me the idea for Nico's punishment and the names of the Fates!**

**Thanks for reading the story! Don't forget to Review/PM/Fav/Follow me!**

**-Motomo **


	11. Keeping Secrets

**Hey guys! As you can see, I changed the title of the story and the summary. I changed the title because as I was looking through stories, I found a story with the same title as mine. I figured that since they had the title first, I would change mine. I changed the summary because it just seemed like the one I had before, wasn't enough. In the review section or through a PM tell me if you want me to keep the title I have now, or if you want me to change it back.  
So I decided to give you guys a special treat. This chapter is extra long! It has a little over 4,000 words! That's a lot since my other chapters have about 1,500. Anyway I hope you like it. In the review section or a PM tell me whether you like short or long chapters and I'll write my chapters accordingly. This A/N is pretty long, so I won't keep you guys any longer so... Enjoy!  
**

**Percy's POV**

"So how are you Percy?" asked Luke sarcastically. "I'd hoped your plan to escape would fail. Thank you to that stupid brat, oh what was his name?" He paused, pretending to think. "Oh that's right, _Nico._" He looked at me, hoping to get a rise out of me, but I wouldn't let that happen.

"I'm fine, just a little sore. Thanks for asking," I said sarcasm dripping from my words. "I definitely like being thrown against the wall. That was my favorite part." I tried saying this with a smile, but I winced. Luke obviously saw that I was in pain.

"Oh, is poor little Percy in pain?" He said with mock sympathy.

"What? Me? In pain?" I said, trying my best not to get angry.

"Oh, so if you're not in pain..." He walked over to me quickly and kicked me in the chest. The wind was knocked out of me, and I started gasping. Then he kicked me again, harder this time. I tried telling him to stop, but was only answered with more kicks. He kept kicking me, and I swore I almost lost consciousness. Finally one of the monsters, an empousa, pulled him back.

"What... are you doing?" asked Luke trying to get back at me.

"Luke, we don't want to kill him yet," she said with a reptilian voice. "He's already coughing up blood."

I managed to look down and saw that my shirt was covered in a sticky substance that was my blood. I'd realized I was coughing, but was in too much pain to realize that I was coughing up blood. I coughed again, and more of the warm substance came up. As I spit it out, an iron-like taste was left in my mouth. I looked up at Luke, and saw that he was wearing an evil grin.

"What's wrong Percy? Did that hurt?" he asked trying to wrench himself out of the empousa's grip. "Let go of me!" he shouted, but she wouldn't let go. "Come on, Percy, answer me!" He looked at me with crazy golden eyes, still smiling.

I wanted to say something, anything, but I just kept coughing, not managing to keep enough air inside. Black was starting to creep upon my vision. It was so welcoming, but I knew that Luke would find it pathetic, and I was not about to give him any satisfaction. I coughed another time, this time coughing up a lot of blood and managed to talk.

"Luke," I paused trying to breathe in without passing out from the pain. "Are you so weak that you can only fight me when I'm on the ground defenseless and injured? I thought you were tough, and I know for a fact that _strong_ people don't attack injured people." I stopped, winded from talking. I had to think of something else to spark a reaction. "I know that Annabeth wouldn't do such a thing." As I said that, Luke flinched, his eyes became their usual blue. And for a second he looked confused. But that was only for a second. His eyes went back to gold, and he was back to looking about ready to murder me.

"I know what you're trying to do _Perseus._" he said, spitting my name like it was a curse. "You're trying to make me feel sorry for you. Hoping that I won't hurt little injured you. But I do agree with you about fighting. I would love to have the challenge of fighting with you again, even if I have surpassed you in sword fighting."

He turned to his horde of monsters, and shouted to a telekhine to get some ambrosia and nectar. He turned back to me. "You're getting what you wanted," he said. "The opportunity to fight me." He took out his sword Backbiter_, _brandishing it. He looked at his sword admiringly. I could guess what he was thinking. _Oh, we are going to have fun today aren't we. You get to slice up Percy. _I cringed at the idea of Luke talking to his sword like it was alive.

The telekhine came scurrying back, holding a couple of flasks of nectar and a box of ambrosia. It timidly held out the ambrosia to Luke.

"Did I ask for the ambrosia first?!" he asked, practically screaming.

"Uh, Lord, you didn't exactly say what-" It was cut off when Luke made a quick swing with Backbiter, disintegrating the telekhine to nothing but gold dust. He bent over and picked up one of the flasks of nectar that had fallen to the ground, and turned back to me.

"You want to be healed, don't you?" he asked, waving the flask. I didn't answer. Something told me that whatever I answered, would have me ending up dead, just like the telekhine.

Luke advanced toward me, gliding across the dusty floor. He knelt in front of me and grabbed my hair, pulling my head up. I tried moving away from him, but each time I moved, I was answered with pain from my chest. Luke popped open the flask and started pouring the nectar into my mouth. I tried to swallow only enough that was needed, knowing that if I drank too much, it would be dangerous, but Luke just kept pouring. I started choking at the constant flow of nectar. Luke had finally finished emptying out the contents of the flask, only to ask for another one.

Another telekhine picked up a bottle of nectar and handed it over to Luke, who opened it. "What's wrong Percy? I thought you liked nectar." He started pouring more nectar, but I kept spitting it out. I felt like my body was on fire, a sign that I had already drank too much.

I lifted my arm, and managed to knock the flask out of Luke's hand. He immediately let go of my hair, causing my head to bang against the ground. My vision became blurry and I was extremely dizzy. I blinked away the blurriness, trying to stand up. I was almost on two feet, when Luke pushed me back down. I managed to catch myself before my head hit the ground, but then a heavy weight was put on my back, and my arms gave out.

Luke bent over, and I realized that he had his foot planted on my back. "You get up, when I say you can," he whispered to me. He took his foot off my back, and stepped back. I looked up at him as he was taking Backbiter out of its' scabbard. "Now Percy, we need to get a few things cleared up here," he said looking down at me. "Number one, always listen to me. Number two, no trying to trick me. That means don't try pulling that little trick from earlier again. Oh, and number three." He paused and smiled. "You are never allowed to escape from me. Now get up," he shouted.

I struggled to my knees, trying to catch my breath. Although I drank more than enough nectar, I could still feel my broken rib. As I started to stand, Luke pushed me, but I managed to keep my balance. I was standing, staring at Luke while trying to think of a way out of here. Then I remembered that I had Riptide. If I could just grab it without him noticing.

"Don't even think about it," said Luke. "Give me the pen," He held his hand out to me. I instinctively reached towards my pocket and pulled out my ballpoint pen. I stared at it, not wanting to give it to him.

"I said, give me the pen." I put the pen in his empty hand. He quickly shoved it in his pocket. "Get him a weapon," he said turning towards the monsters.

I found it pretty ridiculous for him to take Riptide, I mean it's not like it had any special powers that would beat him easily. And then I realized, that he only took it from me because it was a weapon I was comfortable with. I remembered my first day at camp. I was trying to find a weapon, but nothing seemed to fit right. I silently cursed myself for giving it to him, but I also knew that there wasn't anything I could have done that would have prevented him from having it.

An empousa came toward me and shoved a large sword into my hands. I put it in my right hand, but realized that it was a two-handed weapon. Something that I wasn't very good at using. It was too big and heavy. I was used to a small, one-handed weapon.

"What, is the sword to big for you?" asked Luke, pointing at the sword. Before I could answer, he charged toward me with his sword drawn. I barely had enough time to block the blow. I stumbled backwards, my sword dragging across the ground.

"You are really out of practice Percy," laughed Luke, coming back in for another swing.

"Well the last time I checked, I didn't use a two-handed weapon," I retorted.

"Excuses, excuses, excuses." He tried sneaking up behind me, but I quickly spun around and blocked the blow. The force of his blow hit my sword, and made me lose balance. While I was unbalanced, Luke knocked me off my feet, sending me crashing to the ground.

I tried to get up, but he put his foot on my chest. "This Percy, is why nobody fights me willingly." With each word, he pressed his foot harder into my chest, bringing back the pain from before. Before I could say a word, he hit me in the head with the hilt of his sword, and I lost consciousness.

**Nico's POV (During Percy's POV)**

We walked aimlessly through the halls of the Labyrinth. The glowing path that had led us through before, was gone. We decided to follow Annabeth's plan from the last time she was in here. We knew what it was by reading each others hand signals, since we didn't want to take the chance of the Labyrinth from changing. None of us had spoken the entire time, after I had my meeting with the fates. I still hadn't told them about the Fates, which in turn is a good thing.

I was still trying to figure out what was happening to Percy. I knew it probably wasn't good, but the Fates didn't seem concerned. Then again, they probably didn't care.

"Nico, what's wrong?" asked Annabeth. I looked up at her. She was clearly worried. For whom, I wasn't sure.

"Uh, nothing," I lied. She gave me a disapproving look.

"Nico, I know there's something wrong. Is it about Percy? I've meant to tell you," she paused. "I'm sorry for the way I acted before. And about what I said, I didn't mean any of it. I was just really mad, and decided to blame it on you. What happened to Percy wasn't your fault. Do you understand that?" She looked at me with her grey eyes. They were dark and a little red, which I assumed was from crying.

"I-" I paused. _What did I think of that? _The whole time Percy has been gone, I blamed myself for what happened. If I hadn't of tripped...

"Nico, please tell me what's wrong?"

"I- I can't tell you," I said looking away.

"Are you sworn on the River Styx?" She asked. I flinched when she said River Styx.

She looked at me, confused. "It has something to do with the River Styx, doesn't it?" I nodded. I could tell she was trying to figure what happened just by looking at me. Then her eyes widened. "You broke a promise." I nodded again. I figured if I didn't tell her exactly what happened, then nothing would happen. After all, _I _didn't tell her, she figured it out.

"Oh, Nico," she said with sympathy. "It was to Percy wasn't it." I didn't answer her, but she got the message. Then she did something I never expected her to do. She came up and hugged me. At first I was shocked, but then I returned the hug.

"Oh my gods, would you look at that," said Thalia. "Nico and Annabeth hugging? Who would have thought it possible." Annabeth pulled back and gave Thalia a glare.

"Shut up Thalia. I was just making him feel better." Thalia gave her a confused look. Annabeth turned towards me.

"Can I tell her?" I looked between her and Thalia. _Do I want her to know? _I nodded, letting Annabeth know it was alright to tell her.

"Thalia, Nico broke a promise he swore on the River Styx." As Annabeth said 'River Styx' my chest blossomed with pain, and I crumpled to the ground.

"Nico?!" Thalia and Annabeth exclaimed at the same time. The pain kept going, getting more painful with each second. I was gasping, trying to get air in, but the pain was unbearable. The pain went on for a couple of minutes, then it went away. I sat on the ground coughing.

"Nico? What happened?" asked Thalia. I wasn't entirely sure what happened, but then I remembered.

"_Your punishment, Nico di Angelo, is to suffer any pain physically and mentally that Perseus Jackson suffers."_

I didn't even want to think about what was happening to Percy.

"Nico? Hello? Don't make me repeat myself," said Thalia.

"I can't tell you," I said again.

"What? What do you mean you can't tell me?" said Thalia, getting angry.

"I- I just can't tell you." All of a sudden, I got a pain that felt like somebody was pulling on my hair. I reached up and patted my hair, but I could still feel it. My chest started to hurt again as well.

"Uh, Nico, what are-" Thalia stopped. Annabeth was telling her something, but I couldn't hear her.

Then I started choking. I grabbed at my throat, but it didn't do anything. And as quickly as it came, it stopped and was replaced with a sudden pain in my head. I reached up to the back of my head, but nothing was there. _What's happening to Percy? _That was all that I could think about.

"Um, we should keep walking guys," I said as if nothing happened.

"Yeah, sure," said Annabeth.

We walked further. Thalia and Annabeth were talking to each other the whole time, but in hushed tones so I couldn't hear what they were saying. A couple of times, I'd catch a word or two, but not enough to know what they were talking about.

At the end of the hall, there was a strange light. It looked fluorescent. After being in halls only lit by torches, it seemed unreal.

"What do you guys think that is?" I asked. The girls stopped talking and gave me a questioning look.

"What did you say?" asked Thalia.

"I said, what-" I fell to the ground. My head felt like it had been struck with a hammer and there was a considerable amount of pressure on my chest. The pain was horrible, but I couldn't pass out now, not while Percy was in trouble. But the pain became too much, and I passed out.

**Annabeth's POV**

I ran over to Nico. He was still alive, and there were no obvious injuries. I began to wonder if my theory was correct. As if reading my mind, Thalia spoke.

"Do you really think your theory is true?"

"Yeah," I said. "There wouldn't be any other reason for this."

"Explain it to me again. Your theory." said Thalia.

"Okay. So we know that Nico broke a promise on the River Styx. Chiron always told me to never break a promise as strong as that. He said bad things could happen." I looked at Nico. _Did he know about the consequences? Of course he did. _"Anyway, he never actually told me what your punishment would be, but he did say that the Fates handled it. My guess is that at some point, Nico saw the Fates. Be it in a dream, or... I don't know. But he saw them, and they gave him his punishment."

"Are there any ideas of what happens to a person when they break their promise?"

"Not that I know of. If we were to try to figure out his punishment, we would need to know what promise he broke. But I have a feeling that the Fates told him not to tell us what happened, seeing as he kept saying 'I can't tell you'."

"So, what do we do about him?" asked Thalia pointing at Nico.

"I guess we'll have to carry him until he wakes up," I said.

"Heck no. I am not carrying him. After Percy..." She stopped. "What _are_ we going to do about Percy. We can't leave him with those monsters any longer. Plus, I don't think we should keep heading away from Percy. The further away we get, the longer it's going to take for us to get back to him. I also don't think we have the monsters to worry about anymore, since..." She didn't finish her sentence but I knew what she meant.

"Okay," I said. "We'll have to stay here until Nico wakes up. Once he's awake, we can head back to where we came from. You go to sleep. I'll keep watch."

"No, we can both keep watch," Thalia protested.

"Thalia, you need to have your strength. When we find Percy, we're gonna need to fight monsters. And we could very well need your powers, assuming they work down here," I said waving to the area around me. "So go to sleep."

"Fine," she said. She laid down, staring at the ceiling for a while. "I know this is probably not the best time to say this but," she yawned. "I told you so." She was quiet for a while, and I realized that she had fallen asleep.

I kept thinking about what she said. Right before the quest started, she told me that if anything happened on the quest, she would say 'I told you so' and she was absolutely correct. I sighed. Although she was asleep I decided to say it anyway. "Yup Thalia, you were right. And I was wrong." I sat there, listening to Thalia's and Nico's steady breathing, ready to wake up Thalia if anything went wrong.

* * *

I was woken up when Thalia shook me. _Woken up? I fell asleep?!_

"Falling asleep on guard duty, tsk, tsk, tsk. You're lucky nothing attacked us last night, or we'd all be monster food," she said teasingly.

"Oh my gods, I'm so sorry! It was just that nothing was happening and I was tired and stressed and-" Thalia cut me off.

"It's alright, I was awake the whole night anyway."

"What? I thought you were asleep! You were supposed to get your rest."

"I'm a very convincing fake sleeper. Plus a good liar," said Thalia with a grin on her face. "I also heard you tell me I was right! I've been waiting for those words my whole life!"

"Is Nico awake?" I asked ignoring what she had just said.

"Yeah, Sleeping Beauty woke up a couple of hours ago."

"Thalia, what did I tell you about calling me Sleeping Beauty?" said Nico.

"Let's see, you told me that you loved it," said Thalia.

I sighed, I hadn't even been awake for ten minutes, and those two were already at it. I guess you could say that it's a good thing since they were both in a good mood. I'd hate to admit it, but I loved Thalia's sense of humor.

"'Kay guys, we need to start heading back," I said.

I started cleaning up the wrappers of granola bars off the ground. _Why am I cleaning up this stupid place? _I thought. I guess it was a force of habit. Plus, it never hurt to clean up any evidence that proved we were here. You never knew if monsters were chasing you with two of the Big Three's kids with you. _It's supposed to be _three _of the Big Three's kids, _I thought.

"Annabeth, you okay?" asked Thalia. "You were just kinda staring off into space for a while there."

"Yeah," I said. "I'm fine. I was just... thinking."I mustered a smile and pretended to look in my backpack. _Everything will be fine when we have Percy back._

**Thalia's POV**

It was pretty quiet the whole time we were walking. I would try pulling jokes here and there, but no one would really laugh. Sure there would be fake or forced laughs, but never any real ones. I wondered what was happening with Percy. _Was he even alive?_ I pushed the thought out of my head, of course he was alive. I started thinking. _Was there anything I could have done to have prevented this situation? _Sure I said that going on a quest without a prophecy was a bad idea, but I didn't enforce it. I'd let Annabeth tell me I was wrong. I tried giving myself the satisfaction of Annabeth telling me _I _was right for once, but I just found it cruel to even think that.

"So, uh, Nico, what were you trying to tell us earlier? You know, before you passed out?" I asked.

"Oh, I was trying to ask you guys what you thought that light was."

"What light?" asked Annabeth.

"You guys didn't see that fluorescent light at the end of the hall?" I shook my head.

"Nico, I think you're seeing things. Or maybe you're going crazy. That would be funny." Annabeth gave me a look. "Did I say funny? I meant bad."

"Nico, are you sure you saw something and didn't just dream it?" asked Annabeth.

"No, I'm sure I saw it. Well at least I think I saw it." He looked confused.

"It's okay Nico. Dreams can be really realistic," said Annabeth.

After that conversation, things were quiet. Every time I tried to make eye contact with Nico, he would just look away. Annabeth was just in her own world, doing math problems or something. She would be so focused on whatever she was thinking about, that I had to pull her to the side so she wouldn't crash into a wall. She would mumble sorry and go back to what she was thinking about.

"I think that we should have kept going straight," said Nico. "We should have checked out what that light was."

"Nico, I thought we already told you that what you saw was a dream," I said.

"But I remember it. I remember you and Annabeth quietly talking to each other, and when I said something you guys stopped. That's when I passed out."

"Well, it's not like we can go back now," I said. "The Labyrinth has probably already moved." I paused. "Wait, if the Labyrinth moves around..."

"Then what was the point in going back the way we came," finished Annabeth. "I'm such an idiot! How could I have forgotten? Now we're probably even further away from Percy!"

"Annabeth, calm down. You were just caught up in the whole Nico situation, that that little fact slipped your mind. It obviously slipped my mind to since I was the one to suggest it." Annabeth still didn't seem to want to take the blame off herself.

"What do we do now?" asked Nico.

"We- we... I don't know. We should have never gone on this stupid quest in the first place. If we wouldn't have gone we would still have Percy, Nico wouldn't have broken a River Styx promise and..."

"We would have let the Labyrinth be filled to the brim with monsters, which would have then attacked our camp," I finished for her. "Annabeth we had no choice but to go on this quest. So stop blaming everything on yourself." Annabeth seemed to have calmed down, but I could tell that she was still angry with herself.

"Let's just keep walking in the same direction, you know following the left hand wall," suggested Nico. As he said that, all the left walls disappeared.

"Nico!" screamed Annabeth.

I sighed. This was not going to be fun. I decided to keep walking, no particular destination in mind. I just hoped Nico and Annabeth would follow.

**So what did you guys think? Did you enjoy the long chapter. I liked writing this chapter a lot! I decided that I wanted to get Percy's, Nico's, Annabeth's, and Thalia's POV"s in this chapter. Tell me whether or not you liked the long chapter or if you like shorter ones. A fore warning, if you guys want longer chapters, I might not be able to update until the weekends. But I might be able to do them after school if I don't have homework.**

**Do you like Harry Potter and/or Artemis Fowl? If you do, definitely check out Seshat Constance's story "An Unexpected Variable"!**

**Reviewing Reviews Time!**

**Seshat Constance: Thank you for your review, and of course I would use your idea! You've been with this story since I started it!**

**Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review/PM/Favorite/Follow the story! Bye!**

**-Motomo**

**P.S. If you have any fanfics that you want me to read, feel free to tell me!**


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